Dec 09, 2021 · Attorney Pat Harris, who is representing Scott Peterson — a California man convicted in 2004 of murdering his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son on Dec. 24, 2002 — claimed on Thursday that...
Dec 09, 2021 · Dec. 9, 2021, 6:11 AM PST By Scott Stump Scott Peterson's attorney says his legal team is "cautiously optimistic" that he will receive a new trial at …
Dec 09, 2021 · Scott Peterson American murderer Scott Peterson's attorney says his legal team is "cautiously optimistic" that he will receive a new trial at a …
Feb 28, 2022 · Scott Peterson American murderer SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Lawyers trying to overturn Scott Peterson’s conviction in the sordid slaying of his pregnant wife 20 years ago completed their questioning...
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Laci Peterson | |
---|---|
Died | c. December 24, 2002 (aged 27) Modesto, California, U.S. (presumed) |
Occupation | Substitute teacher |
Spouse(s) | Scott Peterson ( m. 1997) |
Children | Conner (fetal death) |
Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972) is an American convicted murderer who is currently incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison. In 2004, he was convicted of the first-degree murder of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and the second-degree murder of their unborn son, Conner, in Modesto, California.
He initially planned to major in international business, but changed his major to agricultural business. Professors who taught Peterson described him as a model student. His agribusiness professor Jim Ahern commented, "I wouldn't mind having a class full of Scott Petersons.".
On April 18, 2003, the results of DNA tests verified that the bodies were Laci Peterson and her son, who was to be named Conner. The autopsy on both bodies was performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Brian Peterson (no relation). Conner's skin was not decomposed at all, though the right side of his body was mutilated. An April 24 ABC News report stated his umbilical cord was still attached, and the San Francisco Chronicle reported that it appeared torn, rather than cut or clamped, as is the normal practice following birth. However, ABC News later reported on May 30 that according to the autopsy, the placenta and umbilical cord were not found with the body.
On January 20, 2004, a judge changed the venue of the trial from Modesto to Redwood City, because Peterson was the victim of increasing hostility in the Modesto area. Peterson's trial began on June 1, 2004, and was followed closely by the news media.
According to Lee Peterson, the Spanish company was trying to establish a customer base in the United States, and they hired Peterson as their West Coast representative. Working on salary plus commission, he sold irrigation systems, fertilizer, chemical nutrients, and related products to big farms and flower growers, primarily in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Peterson was earning a salary of $5,000 a month before taxes. Laci's loved ones, including her mother and younger sister, stated that she worked enthusiastically at being the perfect housewife, enjoying cooking and entertaining, and that she and her family welcomed the news in 2002 that she was pregnant. In November 2002, when Laci was seven months pregnant, Peterson was introduced by a friend to a Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey. In later public statements, Frey said Peterson told her he was single, and the two began a romantic relationship. The last time Peterson's parents saw Laci was during a three-day weekend they spent together in Carmel, California the week before Christmas.
The prosecution presented Peterson's affair with Frey, financial problems, and impending fatherhood as motives for the murder, surmising that he killed Laci due to increasing debt and a desire to be single again.
On October 21, 2005, a judge ruled that proceeds from a $250,000 life insurance policy Peterson took out on Laci would go to Laci's mother, which was reaffirmed by the Fifth District Court of Appeal on October 21, 2005. Peterson's automatic appeal was filed in the California Supreme Court on July 5, 2012.
Scott Peterson's attorney says his legal team is "cautiously optimistic" that he will receive a new trial at a hearing in February after they present evidence of alleged juror misconduct in Peterson's original 2004 trial for murdering his wife and unborn son.
"Essentially what Scott wanted to do was to make it clear that how he's been presented in the media and in court isn't who Scott Peterson is," Harris said. "When you have things like a billboard outside the courtroom with his picture saying 'man or monster,' that he is not a monster, that he did not commit this crime."
Attorneys appeared in a Redwood City courtroom Tuesday morning to sort out whether the 47-year-old Modesto man will get a new trial or be sentenced.
TIMELINE: How the Laci Peterson case unfolded. Harris was named Peterson's new attorney previously by a judge in Stanislaus County, but is awaiting selection to represent him with the case back in San Mateo County. Peterson first must declare whether he can afford to pay Harris.
The latest filing restates claims initially lodged in late 2015, including allegations that a “stealth juror” lied about her past in order to get on the panel and punish Peterson at the trial, moved from Modesto to Redwood City because of pervasive publicity here. Juror Richelle Nice had been threatened when she was pregnant, two years before Laci disappeared, but the defense team wasn’t aware because Nice didn’t mention it on a pretrial written questionnaire filled out by prospective jurors.
The state attorney general’s office has opposed Peterson’s appeals at every step, saying he was a plotting narcissist willing to kill to free himself from the burden of being a husband and new father. Jurors agreed in 2004, and he arrived on death row at San Quentin State Prison in March 2005, where he awaits the outcome of various appeals.
A prison guard monitored an inmate telling his brother on the phone that one of the burglars said Laci saw the break-in, but Geragos did not before trial interview the guard or the brothers or obtain a recording of the conversation, which no longer exists, the habeas says.
Geragos called none of them to the stand, later explaining that he hadn’t interviewed any of them before telling jurors that and deciding later that their stories weren’t consistent with the timeline he envisioned of Laci’s alleged abduction. He decided they “were either mistaken or not credible,” the habeas says.
Questions about an attorney’s actions can lead to verdict reversals, because those accused have constitutional rights to competent counsel.
In his opening statement, Geragos told jurors he would call certain witnesses, such as people who saw Laci walking the dog after her husband left to fish, one who might have seen Laci pulled into a van several days after Christmas Eve, and others who reportedly saw Scott launching the boat with no body in it.
Geragos has admitted certain missteps in previous documents. He restated belief in his client’s innocence in a Wednesday email to The Modesto Bee.
Before his arraignment, Peterson had been represented by Kirk McAllister, a veteran criminal defense attorney from Modesto. Chief Deputy Public Defender Kent Faulkner was also assigned to the case. Peterson later indicated that he could afford a private attorney, namely Mark Geragos, who had done other high-profile criminal defense work. On January 20, 2004, a judge changed the venu…
Scott Lee Peterson was born October 24, 1972, at Sharp Coronado Hospital in San Diego, California, to Lee Arthur Peterson, a businessman who owned a crate-packaging company, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Helen Latham, who owned a boutique in La Jollacalled The Put On. Though Lee and Jackie had six children from previous relationships, Scott was their only child together. As a child, Peterson shared a bedroom with his half-brother John in the family's two-bedroom apartment in …
On December 23, 2002, at 5:45 pm, Peterson and Laci went to Salon—the workplace of Laci's sister Amy Rocha—for a monthly scheduled haircut. As they spoke, Rocha said Peterson offered to pick up a fruit basket that she had ordered for her grandfather as a Christmas gift the next day because he would be playing golf at a course nearby. Prosecutors say Peterson also told other people he would be playing golf on the day of Christmas Eve. Later that evening, Sharon Rocha, …
On April 13, 2003, a couple walking their dog found the decomposing body of a small baby, in a marshy area of the San Francisco Bay shore in Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline park, north of Berkeley. Although a judge sealed autopsy results, an anonymous Associated Press source revealed that 1.5 loops of nylon tape were found around the fetus's neck and a significant cut was on the fetus's body.
Peterson was arrested on April 18, 2003, near a La Jolla golf course. He told police that he was meeting his father and brother for a game of golf. His naturally dark brown hair had been dyed blonde, and his Mercedes-Benz was "overstuffed" with miscellaneous items, including nearly $15,000 in cash, twelve Viagra tablets, survival gear, camping equipment, several changes of clothes, four cell phones, and his brother's driver's license, in addition to his own. Peterson's fath…
On July 6, 2012, Peterson's attorney, Cliff Gardner, filed a 423-page appeal of Peterson's sentence, stated that the publicity surrounding the trial, incorrect evidentiary rulings, and other mistakes deprived Peterson of a fair trial. The State Attorney General's office filed their response brief on January 26, 2015. The defense filed a response to the State's brief in July 2015, claiming that a certified dog that detected Laci's scent at Berkeley Marina had failed two-thirds of tests with sim…
• In 2004, E! aired an episode of The E! True Hollywood Story on the case.
• In 2007, Court TV covered the case with a documentary titled Scott Peterson: A Deadly Game.
• In 2010, the Peterson case was the topic of the eponymous premiere episode of Investigation Discovery's True Crime with Aphrodite Jones.